By Tom Breihan on October 28, 2010 at 5:05 p.m. EDT

Early next year, beard-folk dons Iron & Wine will release their new album Kiss Each Other Clean via Warner Bros. in the U.S. and 4AD internationally. But we won't have to wait that long to hear music from the album. On November 26, Black Friday, Sam Beam and co. will release a new three-song single, exclusively available at independent record stores. The single includes the tracks "Walking Far From Home", "Summer in Savannah", and "Biting Your Tail", and it'll be available on 12" vinyl and CD. It'll be available digitally on November 30.

By Tom Breihan on September 9, 2010 at 1:30 p.m. EDT

It's been a long time since Iron & Wine left us with an album of pillowy folk-rock to step to. Sam Beam and friends haven't released a studio album since The Shepherd's Dog in 2007, but they're finally coming back with a new one. Iron & Wine's new one arrives early in 2011, and it's called Kiss Each Other Clean.

The band is on tour in Europe right now. When that's done, Beam will play a few solo acoustic shows in the Midwest. All dates below.

By Tom Breihan on May 5, 2010 at 1:15 p.m. EDT

Last night, Sam Beam's amber-hued folk project Iron & Wine played a show at the Paramount Theater in Charlottesville, Virginia. Beam, solo and acoustic, sang a couple of new songs. He's been playing one of those tracks, "Mary Anne", for at least a year, but another, "Half Moon", seems to be entirely new.

At the same show, Beam told the crowd that he was done recording a new Iron & Wine album and that it'd be out "in the near future," according to Gary Canino. Canino also got footage of Beam playing both songs. Click below to watch it.

By Ryan Dombal on October 14, 2009 at 1:25 p.m. EDT

Photo by Norman Wong

Along with luge, figure skating, and, um, curling, Vancouver will host an impressive list of musical events surrounding February's Winter Olympics. (Via Consequence of Sound.) The coolest-sounding show is an all-star extravaganza featuring Broken Social Scene, Iron & Wine, Joan as Policewoman, Sun Kil Moon, Ron Sexsmith, and more paying tribute to Neil Young with covers from across the Canadian old-schooler's career. BSS and Joan as Policewoman will lead the house band. The gig goes down February 18 at Vancouver's Queen Elizabeth Theatre.

By Tom Breihan on February 12, 2009 at 6:00 p.m. EST

Iron & Wine released their debut album in 2002, which in a weird way makes Sam Beam the spiritual godfather of the all the wispy beardy-folk masses swarming the planet in 2009. In any case, Beam's now deep enough into his career that Iron & Wine have enough material for a double-CD rarities compilation. And his skyrocketing popularity (thanks in no small part to the inclusion of The Shepherd's Dog's "Flightless Bird, American Mouth" on the Twilight soundtrack) means the demand for Iron & Wine music remains high.

On May 19, Sub Pop will release Around the Well, a 2xCD/3xLP set divided between Beam's home recordings and full-band studio fare. Among the goodies: covers of the Postal Service's "Such Great Heights", New Order's "Love Vigilantes", and the Flaming Lips' "Waitin' for a Superman".

Also in May, Iron and Wine will play a quick run of U.S. dates at some extremely small venues, and they're letting fans pick the set lists this time. On the band's website, you'll be able to vote for which songs you'd like to hear each night. And if you miss the shows, they'll be available for download soon after at the Played Last Night site. Democracy!